Program Overview |
Community Connections is a USAID program designed to promote public diplomacy through the exchange of cultural ideas and values between participants, U.S. families and local community host organizations. Since 2005, Project Harmony has recruited for Community Connections exchanges throughout Russia. The goals of the Community Connections program are to:
* Provide participants with professional training and exposure to day-to-day functioning of a free market system;
* Encourage public-private partnerships in Europe/Eurasia by including private sector and government participants on U.S. visits;
* Create links between U.S. and Europe/Eurasia regions and communities.
Participants for the program are recruited on a list of themes from across Russia, with each region having its own specific theme. The goal of recruiting is to assemble a team of experts in their field who can work together across sectors to improve the work being done in their field. Community Connections exchange themes typically highlight topics in social service and development sectors such as nonprofit development, women's rights, poverty alleviation, rights of the disabled, and others.
Each Community Connections group is comprised of a diverse group of professionals from the media, private, governmental, and the nonprofit sectors, forming a local team that can approach problem solving effectively while working for greater sustainability. Alumni from previous trainings have gone on to found nonprofit organizations, develop training programs themselves, win grants for social projects, and other great successes.
The program was first managed by the State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and is now funded through the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia at USAID. For more information on Community Connections, please visit http://www.ccfrussia.ru/ or contact ccfrussia@projectharmony.ru.
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